1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to coin tubes; and, more particularly, to a closable tube for holding a wrapped set of coins in tight fitting relationship.
2. Related Art
Coin tubes are tubes for holding a fixed number of coins of a certain denomination in a container. In the past, such tubes were cylindrical but in U.S. Pat. No. 3,244,272, to Beaman et al., a rectangular coin tube is disclosed. These tubes improved on prior art cylindrical tubes by being stackable and non-rolling when placed on a supporting surface. Such tubes may be used by collectors and should be transparent or semi-transparent so as to be able to inspect the coins therein and air tight to preserve the coins against corrosion and oxidation.
The coin tube in U.S. Pat. No. 3,244,272 solves most of these problems but has a removable cap that is not fixed to the tube""s main body. Although lugs are disclosed on the exterior of the tube of the main body portion which engage grooves on the interior of the cap, it is expensive to manufacture such lugs and grooves to provide proper alignment. They also do not provide a positive locking feature on the cap.
Also, the exterior rectangular surfaces of the main body portion of the coin tube are flat and planar with sharp corners. Such tubes can still easily roll on a supporting surface.
There is a need for a coin tube that is less expensive to make than known prior art tubes, is stackable, uses less material than prior art tubes and does not roll when placed on a supporting surface. The cap should be locked to the tube body to prevent the cap from coming off and the contents of the tube from coming out.
It is an object of this invention to provide a coin tube having interlocking means at the mating corners of the removable cap and main body portion to prevent the cap from spinning or sliding off, with respect to the main body portion.
It is a further object of this invention to provide aligned ribs at the corners of the removable cap and main body portion to reduce the costs of manufacture of the coin tube and give vertical strength to the tube.
These and other objects are preferably accomplished by providing a square shaped coin tube having a main body portion with an inner chamber for holding the wrapped coins and a removable cap tightly fitting to the main body portion. The chamber extends upwardly from the main body portion terminating in an annular lip which engages one or more inner annular ridges on the cap. Both the cap and the main body portion having longitudinally extending ribs at the corners, the ribs of the main body portion having depressions at top receiving nubs on the ribs of the cap thereon to prevent the cap from turning with respect to the main body portion.